I asked the slave trader where he had found
the skeleton," went on the savant, "and he told me he had come
across it at the foot of a giant silk cotton tree in the Bambara
country."
The boys exchanged glances. It was to the Bambara country--the
country of the legendary Flying Men--that they were bound.
"Is any more known of this tribe?" inquired Frank.
"Very little except what you can pick up from the natives, which is
little enough," replied Professor Wiseman, "they seem to have a
dislike to speaking of the Flying Men--to whites at any rate. I
think, too, they fear them. Report has it that they live in
cave-like holes in the side of a giant, black basalt cliff reached
by a subterranean river. They reach the ground by taking short
flights from the holes they live in and regain the cliff dwellings
by means of rope ladders formed of twisted creepers."
"Then they cannot fly upward?" asked Frank.
"It would seem not," replied the naturalist, "their wings only serve
as gliders. Possibly once in the remote ages they could fly as well
as great birds but with the course of the ages and disuse their
wings have dwindled."
As may, be imagined the idea that within a short time they were to
be in the country of the mysterious tribe caused a tremendous stir
among the boys and when after breakfast their strange friend of the
night before, Sikaso, appeared they at once overwhelmed him with
questions.
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